Stop it, Gonda pulled some great saves tonight, he had his best game in this tournament as it was the case with most of his teammates.
You know the disappointing thing? 20 hours ago I arrived in Dubai in transit on a journey between Uganda and England where I am now. If I had a bit of smarts booking my flights I could've spent a cool 24hrs in Dubai and watched that semifinal live. Heck I could've stayed a cool 4 days and watched the final too lol.
Congratulations guys. This game could have gone either way. We were playing pretty well until your player dive and our players for some odd reasons were all going to the referee when he hadn't made any call. We could have made a comeback but the penalty just ruined the game and spirit of our players. I just don't understand why some of our players were getting angry at the end. They should just take the loss with grace and move on.
Well, in BuLi he scores every 7th game, in JNT every third game. He works well for JNT. Against Asian competition of course. Good for him. I'm really happy for this result. Too bad the games are played so early as they have to stick to Japanese TV hours every time... But that's pretty impressive what this almost talentless group achieved so far. At least I will be able to watch them in the final!
Unbelievable match. So happy, but also stunned. 3-0 against the current best team in Asia? Amazing. We're the favourite for Friday's match. I hope in a Zac encounter.
Asian Football was never better. And JNT was maybe never as talented as now. When every player is fit you have almost a an endless list of young promising talents. Tomiyasu, Minamino, Doan, Kamada, Endo, Nakajima, Shoji and so on. Congrats Japan I am very proud today it was a genius game. Recognize how crazy Iran played at the World Cup against Spain and Portugal. How good Saudi Arabia was apart from the 0-5 loss vs a world class Russia. How strong and close Australia was playing, how cool South Korea was. With a little luck almost every Asian Team would make it out of the group stage the last WC. Aand not forget how beautiful and entertaining Japan was. Asia make a big big step up. And sure Japan was playing dirt till today but they played 10 games under the new coach and win 9,draw 1. This can't be that bad.
Talent is one thing, getting it to work is another. Sure if winning the whole thing and looking good only 2,3 games, well yeah that is strong.
I'd argue that France and portugal in WC 2018 and Euro 2016 respectively and even Italy in WC 2006, didn't look that impressive either except for 2-3 games but they ultimately won the tournament. That's how these competitions work unfortunately, gotta seize every opportunity given and play accordingly. I'm not a fan of this "new" Japan either but hey, a win is a win after all. If anything, this shows that Asian teams are not that good as they claim to be for their inability to easily beat the hell out of this "crappy" Japanese side.
I just hope Japan won't end up like Iran today for playing with a defensive mindset for far too long. Moriysau has to try other more offensive-minded play styles too whenever his A squad recovers soon.
First, Congratulation to Japan. Second, our players were extremely angry from Japan players because the Japanese player did not stop playing for the first goal. They all thought It is a foul and they stopped playing. If they did not stop, that first goal would not have happened. They thought the Japan player will stop as well but he continued and we conceded the first goal which changed the whole game. Third, our team and media were against having Australian referee for our matches. That had negative impact on our players psychologically. They thought they are going to play with 12 men and every single contact is going to be called in favor of Japan. That is why they stopped playing before Japan's first goal. I usually do not use to blame the referees but this result would not have happened if AFC did not choose an Australian referee for us.
Why would the Japanese player stop? The ball is still in play and in his possession! As for your third point, well... that's your team's problem if the players are easily triggered and affected by conspiracy theories and the thought that everyone out there is against them. Sorry for saying it but this actually is a typical Middle Eastern mindset, be it Arabs, Iranians, Turks..etc. I've always laughed at the fact that some Iranians still believe that AUS referee Ben Williams holds a grudge against Iran team to this day and would conspire with his fellow Australians against Iran in every opportunity. If your players just kept their cool and actually focused on playing football, things would've been much different. Play to the whistle, period. Anyways, good luck in your future endeavors and I hope you get a better replacement for Quieroz. Lastly, instill some calmness in your players for God's sake. Your good long streak was ruined because of it.
Good game, this result shouldn't negate everything Iran has accomplished under Queiroz by any measure. That said, the points about the refereeing and the first goal are nonsense, lol. Why is there any problem with assigning an Australian referee? Are there any nationalities which would be considered acceptable? And why would the Iran players be angry about not being called for a foul on Minamino? You play to the whistle, period - particularly with VAR. If anything the ref gave Iran the benefit of the doubt by deeming the play a clean challenge. That scene was extremely unprofessional on the part of not one, but at least four Iranian defenders.
Because our players stopped playing. They thought the referee gave a foul to Japan. When they stopped playing, they expected the Japanese player stops as well. If they did not stop, that first goal would have never happened. After that first goal, our players were extremely angry of your players unfortunately. Regard the Australian referee, It all goes back to our quarter-final game in AC 2015 where a wrong red card by the Australian referee changed the whole game. Before the game, the media and players focused on Australian referee more than the game unfortunately. It seems that we are going to search for a new coach soon. I was never CQ fan and never accepted him as a good number one. I always accepted him as a good assistant manager and believed that he can never be a good head coach for any team in senior level. Anyway thank you my dear friend and best wishes to Japan football as well.
IMO CQ is only a good assistant manager and cannot be a good head coach for any team in senior level in the world. It is almost guaranteed that we are going to get a new coach soon. First bolded part, It all goes back to AC 2015 and may be 1997. Second bolded part, I agree with you dear but our players still expected the Japanese player stops playing because they stopped playing.
Actually, Iran deserved a better coach, with that pool of excellent attacking players in your team, you could've effortlessly routed many Asian teams by 3-5 goals margin but instead he like strangled your team's main guns and totally focused on defense. I guess your media and maybe some Iranians were blinded and infatuated by his stats and the team's position in FIFA's rankings under his guidance. I don't think Korea, Japan even Saudi give a damn about FIFA Rankings. I wish you and your team the best of luck.